Murphy completes awesome comeback to reach final

Shaun Murphy maintained his self-belief to advance to Sunday's final against Mark Selby or Mark Davis

Shaun Murphy staged one of snooker's great fightbacks to leave Ali Carter stunned and book a place in Sunday's final of the williamhill.com UK Championship.

It looked to be Carter's match when he led 8-4 in the best-of-17 contest, but Murphy played like a player transformed after the mid-session interval, with breaks of 76, 49, 105 and 78 forcing a decider.

Murphy had said after yesterday's victory over 17-year-old Luca Brecel that a dressing-room rocket from his manager Brandon Parker had saved him from defeat, and whatever was said this evening behind closed doors clearly also did the trick.

Murphy held his nerve in a tense final frame as breaks of 39 and 29 carried him through to a clash with Mark Selby or Mark Davis, a 9-8 winner.

Carter, who broke down in tears afterwards as he spoke about his continuing battle with Crohn's disease, said: "Shaun's played unbelievably from 8-4 behind. I was in complete control. All credit to Shaun, I can't be too hard on myself."

Speaking about his painful condition, Carter said: "If I could pay to get rid of it, I would."